Active Vs. Passive Medicine

                     Active                    Vs.                       Passive

Healing oneself takes an individual's active participation in the process. This participation can be physical (body), emotional (mind), or spirit work.  Often times, all three woven together into a beautiful Self-Healing tapestry is your healing magic in action.

We live is a culture that generally works from a space of passive health care.

One western medicine scenario:

1. Visit your practitioner.
2. Explain your symptoms, issues, challenges.
3. Have a prescription handed to you.
4. Go home and take your pills.

Rarely does a western medical practitoner ask you to participate in the process of regaining your health. Drugs and surgery do not get at what is causing your health crisis. Drugs cover up the symptoms. Surgery removes the damaged organs but never opens up space to determine why this organ is in a state of dis-ease and how can I change my habits to reverse the damage that has been done?  What is actually causing the symptoms usually continues in a person's life because no one asks us to take a hard look at what made us arrive at this space of ill health. When we do take this hard look, unravel the causes that led to the problem, we can then start working in reverse to remove the problems and recover health.

Examples of the "You don't have to do anything active about your health problems" scenarios:

• High blood pressure: just take this pill and it will bring your blood pressure down. 
• Type 2 Diabetes: again, take this pill and continue doing what you have been doing. Until, of course, your diabetes get worse and now you need to... inject yourself with insulin at least once daily.
• Joint problems: take this pill, come on in for a replacement... keep eating and drinking all you have been because like the problems above... these problems are not your fault. You know, it's just bad genes. Take this pill and call it a day.

I could go on & on... PMS, menstrual irregularities, infertility, arthritis, auto-immune disorders, cancer... Nothing you eat, drink, or do in your life has anything to do with the presence of this health problem in your life.

Or so we are led to believe by mainstream media, mainstream medicine, and mainstream agriculture.

Active Participation in your health and healing means taking ownership of your lifestyle habits; true Lifestyle Medicine. Lifestyle Medicine is Active Medicine. You are asked and required to take a participatory role in your health and healing. You are invited to make changes towards whole health eating and whole health living that will ultimately repair your body cells.

1. How has the food I have been eating over the course of my life impacted my body's cellular health?  (Unhealthy cells mean an unhealthy body.)
2. How are my daily lifestyle habits impacting my health, my display of symptoms?
3. How is my body weight affecting my heart, blood pressure, diabetes, joints, back problems, and overall health?

It is time for your health care providers to invite you and inspire you (that is right, health care professionals who activley participate in their own well being and are good role models of real health). Your health cae providers need to be asking you questions:

"Stand up people. Take a hard look. Where can you change habits that have contributed to this crisis in your health? What can you do to actively return your body to vibrant, vital health?"

Trust me, return to health is a reality.  You just need to get active about the process. Invite healing support into your life:

• Lifestyle medicine professionals (think Functional Medicine, Functional Nutrition, Naturopathic Medicine, Holistic Health Coach)
• Acupuncture
• Massage
• Reiki
• Shamanic Care
• Chiropractic Care
• Spiritual Counselor
• Osteopath who practices lifestyle medicine

So where does preventative health care fit into this?

There is a difference between mainstream medicine's view of preventative health care and "holistic - whole health care - lifestyle medicine's" idea of preventative health care.

Mainstream's Idea of Prevention  -  Whole Health Care's Prevention                                                            (Lifestyle Medicine)

• mammogram                                                                          whole foods
• colonoscopy                                                                            deep, restful sleep
• cholesterol screening                                                              maintain healthy weight
• prostate exam                                                                         yoga, meditation mindfulness
• bone scan                                                                               moving the body daily
• vaccines                                                                                  immune building lifestyle habits
• diabetes screening                                                                  good posture
• blood pressure screenings                                                      hydration with pure water (no chlorine and fluoride)

Natural health habits are preventative health care; TRUE preventative health care.

The "get your annual mammogram, colonoscopy, cholesterol screening type of prevention" (which often leads to your lifetime pharmaceutical prescriptions)  does not actually prevent anything but instead is an early detection tool so your symptoms of dis-ease can be treated, managed, for the rest of your life. This is management of disease through management of disease symptoms.

Healing, active medicine, needs to be part of this equation.

Active Health Care is about real preventative health care... choosing lifestyle habits that build amazing cellular health & vitality so you truly prevent dis-ease from ever darkening your doorstep and actually knocking on your door. 

If disease symptoms are already part of your life, Active Health Care invites you to heal your symptoms of disease. 

I invite you to become an active part of your own healing team AND I will do my best to educate you and inspire you (be a healthy role model) towards whole health choices and self healing! 

Join me at 5 Elements Living for

Creating Inner Wisdom: Your Personal Health Journey

Register Today

3 Class overview
• March 27th: Eating for Cellular Health
• April 3rd: Natural Food Know How
• April 10th: Wise Woman Nurse "Movement Magic"
for Digestive Health & Herbs for Gut Health

Monday Evenings 6-8 PM

More info? Click here.

Ready to join us? Register here.

Not All Vitamin Supplements Are Created Equally

Nature Made? Hmmm, name sounds safe enough. It is Nature made, correct?

People grabs these cleverly named supplements off the shelves of drug stores, grocery stores, and discount department stores feeling confident in something that was nature made.

Cheaper department store vitamins are enticing. Who doesn't like to save a few bucks when and where they can. Money is the currency of our life force energy and we only have so much (life force energy) to burn up in our time on this planet. Is saving a few bucks on cheaper vitamins worth it? Am I supporting or harming my cellular health? This is one of those instances where you get what you pay for and it is best to invest in high quality. Your health is worth it and cheaper versions can be harmful in the long run (your body has to process out, detox through the GI tract and liver, the synthetic vitamins that are not readily or not at all usable by your body).

Reading the nutrient list and ingredients weaves a completely different tale; a tale of deception around these cleverly brand named products.

Reading vitamin labels to avoid synthetic forms of nutrients is as important as reading food package labels to avoid synthetic ingredients.

One of my biggest pieces of advice around packaged food is to read every ingredient in the product with major scrutiny:

• What is/are the ingredient(s)?

• Is/are all ingredients 100% whole food?

• Where was it sourced from? US or foreign?

• Organic?

• Naturally raised, naturally fed (as in cows being grass vs. grain fed)?

Ahhh, the beauty, simplicity, and purity of nature (you are nature!)

Even when you get used to the safeness of a particular product... read the ingredient list every time you buy this product. Companies change hands, ingredients are swapped out for cheaper options... always put your health as #1 priority:

So, let's move on to vitamin/mineral supplements.

Reading labels for the "form" of certain vitamins or minerals in the nutrients line-up can give you a quick idea if the product is quality ingredients or made with cheap versions of the vitamins/ minerals. (The habit by many manufacturing companies is to use the cheapest form of a substance, vitamin or mineral, and charge the customer as much as possible. This ensures the company has the largest profit margin.)

Look for these indications of high quality supplements; it is the natural vs. synthetic form of the nutrients. If the nutrient form is natural, the product just may be of a higher quality. If the nutrient form is synthetic, throw your red flag up to full mast and investigate the entire list with a scrutinizing eye and mind.

This is just 3 easy nutrients to scutinize the label for and start painting a picture in your mind of the quality of the product in your hand (or on your laptop screen if cyber-shopping for vitamins).

Natural Form                 Vs.           Synthetic Form

 Folate (Vitamin B9)                                                         Folic Acid

 Methylcobalamin (B12)                                                  Cyanocobalamin

 d-alpha tocopherol (Vitamin E)                                    dl-alpha tocopherol

You can use the above information to quickly scan the list of nutrients in a vitamin /mineral formula. If any of the above are in their synthetic form, I would seriously scrutinize the rest of the product. The "red flag" to me would be... Cheap, synthetic forms of these nutrients. Most likely the rest of the product was not formulated with high quality, bioavailable ingredients. Lay-person's terms: synthetic is not used well by your body. Nutrients need to be in a form that is usable by your body: meaning the nutrient can be

• digested by your GI tract,

• absorbed into your bloodstream,

• circulated well in your blood, and

• taken in by your cells (pass freely through your cell membranes) to be used in metabloic processes.

Buying quality supplements means getting a product that can actually be used by and benefit your body cells. Body cells are the building block of your body. Vibrantly healthy body cells are the building blocks of wildly happy and healthy bodies.

Vitamins I recommend to clients/students/family/friends/people I pass on the streets:    ; )

• Pure Synergy: I always recommend 2 daily with a whole food eating lifestyle. The bottle says 4 daily. The bottle will last 2 months at 2 per day and will supplement a healthy, whole food diet. Pure Synergy also has great herb supplements such as Turmeric, etc.

• Garden of Life

• Superfood Plus (HerbDoc.com)

• New Chapter

• Mega Food

Some of these are available at Nature's Storehouse in Canton, NY

How about those herbal supplements Paula?

Again, cheaper brands are not always quality products. If you are going to put your money into herbal supplements (or homeopathy, or essential oils, etc) you do want to get what you are paying for. Opt for companies that are high end, high quality, have a known reputation for efficacy of their products. After all, you do want them to work for you.

Companies whose herbal products I have used and trust:

• Herbs Etc.

• Herbdoc.com

• Oregon Wild Harvest

• Wise Woman Herbals

• Nature's Sunshine

• Dr. Christopher's Original formulas

• Living Earth Wild Yam

• Nature's Secret

I am sure there are more but these are the companies I rely on for quality products.

Bottom Line:

Be wise.

Read labels on everything you put into or onto your body.

Know what is natural and supposed to be part of your cellular health.

Avoid synthetics that are counter-productive to cellular health.

Why I Am Not Vegan Anymore

I am asked these questions around food and eating quite frequently:

• What is the healthiest way to eat?
• You aren't going to tell me I have to be vegetarian or vegan to heal my health problems?
• What happened to you?!... You were vegan, you had it so right, why did you change?

Just what is healthy eating? Ask that question of 10 different people and you will probably get 10 different answers... some spewed forth with the enthusiasm of a food fanatic. Hey, I only say this as I know, I could be mildly fanatic in my hey day.     

I am grateful for age, wisdom, and my more laid back attitude (Thank you very much yoga). I am now more careful where and when I say my famous quote:   "I wouldn't feed that crap to my dog."               Which honestly is an insult to my dog, any dog. I have since replaced dog in that statement with my compost pile fully realizing it is an insult to my compost pile's amazing bio-diversity and work on this planet. *Why feed my compost pile junk food, GMOs, non-organic crap? I don't want that cycling back around into my garden plot OR worrying about the wild animals who eat out of the pile (including my dog!) and would be getting less than whole food choices. Yup, see I can be a zealot.

20+ years ago when I returned to Northern NY, my home (I grew up in Brasher Falls), I was vegan and had been for 5-6 years. Truthfully, I thought I would starve to death up here.  I quickly found Nature's Storehouse, The Potsdam Food Coop, and Birdsfoot Farm (I believe Birdsfoot was the only organic produce farm in the area at the time).

So, what made me toss aside my vegan ways, turn back the clock on my omnivorous eating? It was a circling back of wisdom I already held within. 

1. I was pregnant, 33, always hungry, and dreaming of my Mom's roast beef dinner, venison stew, and chicken and dumplings. Listen to your body. I did! Our bodies have a wisdom as deep and pure as the earth is old. I listened (with a little encouragement from my Dad that I would not rot in hell for eating meat AND he was worried about his grandson who was hanging out in my uterus at that time). Even my 100% whole food vegan diet, no packaged fake meats and cheese... processed food is processed food, was not supporting my pregnancy well.

2. A Wise Woman Native American made a simple statement to me one day (this was before I was pregnant), as we were talking about vegan eating, that brought me full circle back to the wisdom I already held within: "Everything you eat must die for you."  

Over the years this statement has held strength with me. Everything on this planet holds spirit in its being: plants, animals, the water, air, fire, the Earth herself. When we pull a carrot from the ground we are essentially birthing that carrot from its Mother, Mother Earth. That carrot is alive, alive with life force energy. The carrots roots are its umbilical cord to the uterus that was sustaining it, again, Mother Earth. Life force energy is spirit. To eat we must take a life. Who am I, as a human, to be placing higher value on one life over another. In the great web of life, all beings on this planet are required to balance out all others, all beings are equal.

Eating, actually everything we do on this planet, is a gift we receive from the Earth. Gratitude, deep and sincere gratitude, is a gift we give back to honor all the beings we use for food, medicine, building homes, driving cars, stuff we buy and own, etc. all which comes from Mother Earth. 

Yes, there is more to the story but this is enough for now.

As a kid, I knew this deep life force energy of all things. Kids just do. Trees and plants have always held special energy for me (they do for everyone). I spent hours of my summer up in trees: reading books, eating meals and snacks, lounging back against a sturdy trunk to drink my quart of Homestead Dairy's chocolate milk after school, and taking naps sprawled belly down across the length of a branch with my arms and legs dangling. I had favorite maple and white pine trees for climbing and "living" in. I had a favorite white pine for napping under: the years had piled brown needles under her branches and she faced south. Who could resist such a warm and fragrant bed? I would take my faithful friend Buster (a lop eared beagle), books, and water and head through the fields and woods to get to this pine tree a few miles from my home. Buster and I would camp out: me reading and napping in the fragrant, warm, brown pine needles with the south sun shining on me and Buster terrorizing the small animals of the woods until he was tired and napped next to me.

This deep life force energy of all things... we are culturally trained to forget it. So it was easy for me to think that the only lives I was eating that mattered were the animals. Coming full circle... the life force energy, spirit, in everything matters. (I still eat, enjoy, and am grateful for many vegetarian & vegan meals every week. Is not a meal of butter vegetarian? A meal of dark chocolate vegan?)

What are my healthy eating recommendations?

• 100% whole foods
• Grown and raised as close to home as possible, this means eating seasonally
• Eat only what you need to sustain yourself, over indulgence of anything is over indulgence
• If you know a food does not make you feel vibrant... don't eat it
• A food that makes you soar with happiness & energy? Eat it... well, if it is whole. Dunkin Donuts® do not count here.
• Be deeply grateful for every bite: grateful to the food, the Earth that nurtured the food, the farmers that worked hard to bring that food forth to your plate, fork, & table, the person shopping & cooking for you...
• Show your gratitude by eating in peace, chewing slowly & thoroughly so your digestive tract can do the work to bring the Earth's nourishment to every cell in your body

As We Express Our Gratitude,

We Must Never Forget That The Highest Appreciation

Is Not To Utter Words,

                              But To Live By Them.     John F. Kennedy

Native American Gratitude Prayer

We thank Great Spirit for the resources that made this food possible;

we thank the Earth Mother for producing it,

and we thank all those who labored to bring it to us.

May the wholesomeness of the food before us, bring out the wholeness of the Spirit within us.

*Any food you eat should have been grown with healthy, sustainable, biodynamic principles in mind:  How was this food fed? If a food, plant or animal based, was fed healthy food... its cells will be well nourished and therefore capable of nourishing your cells. If a food you were eating was fed less than whole food, that food will have less than whole nourished cells, and will be incapable of fully nourishing your body. 

For deeper diving into this feeding your food issue:                                                                                     What Does Your Farmer Feed Their Cows, Chickens, Pigs, Goats, Vegetables, Fruits...?

5 Easy Ways To Shift The Energy Of Your Life's Path

Easy is a relative word and is subject to much subjectivity. 

1. Practice being mindful in every moment.  

Excerpted from an article I wrote in 2012 for the Potsdam Food Coop's newsletter, {in my day, you know the uphill both ways to school - barefoot AND in the snow, mindfulness was simply called yoga,  ; ) }      

I have always urged and supported others to practice some form of mind, body, spirit "exercise" to bring a centered awareness into their life as this daily habit makes the process of healthy lifestyle change flow with ease & grace (seriously my friends, I am not pulling your yoga leg here): 

When we stop the constant chatter inside our heads and still our minds through mindfulness activities (yoga and other body awareness exercises), we tend to make choices that are in alignment with what is best for our health without feeling deprived.  This is because we have learned to live in the present moment and are aligned in body, mind, and spirit.  That is the awareness that Yoga brings to our being.
A cluttered "chattery" mind and a body that is not aligned in mind, body, and spirit tends to make decisions based upon impulse and cravings without regard to what is best for long term health.

2. Practice daily mindlessness!  Zone out. Stop the chatter. Pay attention to breath only.  

When we are so bent on living a life of being mindful in every moment we forget to just let go and be... be mindless for a bit. Literally people, NOTHING, going on in our heads!

Check out this Daily OM post by Madisyn Taylor. It was fitting to this thought of mindlessness.

3. Sign up for someone's daily email or social media posts that are positive and inspirational.

Read them. Reflect on them. Allow the words to weave their magic into your body, mind, and spirit. Live the words for your own peace and for the peace of all who walk your path with you.

Hey... I wrote a book on daily reflections and inspirations. This book will gift you a year's worth of body, mind, & spirit magic. Go ahead... cast a spell for yourself.

4. Revel, truly revel, in who you are and your life's purpose on this planet.

Let your true self shine, shine, shine.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."

Check out this youtube link for a bit of musical inspiration. 

5. Offer kindness and compassion every where you go to everyone, every being, & everything. Seriously.

The natural - spiritual law of 3 fold:

"For all that we say and we do "for good or for ill, shall be returned to us threefold."

What goes around comes around baby!  Make your karma & dharma shine, shine, shine! See the above song link for another deep dose of musical inspiration.

May Your Life Be Full Of Wild & Fun Adventures

&

Free From Ordeals.  

: )

Shopper's Rut: Why do I need to avoid this?

Shopper's Rut Defined: buying the same 'ole fruits and veggies every week:

• bunch of bananas
• few apples
• an orange or two on occasion and maybe a pear here or there
• stock of broccoli
• pre-washed & prepared lettuce of some sort
• carrots
• maybe a cuke or bell pepper
• perhaps some celery because it is easy

Why Should You Avoid This Same 'Ole - Same 'Ole Produce Shopping Experience... (Hint: to avoid eating the same things day after day, week after week!)

• Variety in fruits and veggies creates variety in the vitamin, minerals, anti-oxidants, and phytonutrients your body is graced with. There are so many nutrients in food that we have not yet discovered. Opting to eat produce that varies with the season opens your body, your body cells, to receiving all of these nutrients.
• Phytonutrients fight oxidative stress, inflammation, and allow your body to heal for disease prevention and disease healing (You want this, trust me and yes, your body is capable of healing from any disease. It is how we are genetically programmed. The "you must take this drug for the rest of your life" medical mentality erases the fact that the body has the ability to heal.).
• Mixing up your fruit & veggies provides your body with different kinds of fiber, the roughage in food. Fiber, complex carbohydrates are good on so many levels. See below for some gut bug info.

• Your taste buds, eyes, nostrils, hands, and brain will be happy for the variation in sensory stimulation. All the colors, textures, smells, and tastes are an amazing way to stimulate your neural pathways. Think of that beautiful summer salad on your plate and then the slow rotation into fall and winter veggies giving us tantalizing root veggie and cabbage slaws. Then there is my favorite winter veggie... beets!  A winter, cooked beet salad with walnuts & feta cheese is a taste bud tantalizing change from the same ole - same ole steamed or sauteed broccoli. 

Above picture borrowed, with permission, from the website of Martin's Farmstand, Potsdam, NY.           Look at the seasonal abundance available in Northern NY!  Go to their website and have fun clicking on the "previous newsletter" links. The pictures from the farmstand, the farm fields, and gardens are amazing. Lush and juicy, fresh, local, and seasonal food everywhere!  And all this food is tended to with love by wonderful people.  For your fall & winter veggies... give them a call.

Looking for a winter CSA in Northern NY State?:  

• Kent Family Growers, 
• Birdsfoot Farm, 
• LittleGrasse FoodWorks  OR check out
• GardenShares website to find a farmer close to you that sells produce, meats, cheeses, milk, herbs, spring plants, etc.

Try these ideas to eat more variety in your fruits and veggies:

• Get Creative in the Kitchen
• Eat Seasonally Fruits & Veggies & Naturally Rotate Your Phytonutrients
• Use Root vegetables instead of grains to add plenty of complex carbohydrates and starches to your eating habits. This is good gut pre-biotic food that feeds the gut bugs you want to survive and thrive in your intestinal tract. A healthy gut microbiome is a self-responsibility tool in your personal medicine bag to prevent intestinal disease, auto-immune diseases, cancer, and a host of other preventable human ills. And food is your easy, at home medicine!
• Grate veggies on a grater (or use a fancy spiralizer); use these grated veggies instead of pastas. Depending on the veggie, I use some raw and gently saute' others.
• Learn what fruits & berries grow in your area, what their season is, and freely indulge in them.

More recipes: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/recipes/

Tip for the Week, Month, & Year: Create seasonal variety in your whole food eating habits not just around the produce you eat. Variety bathes your awesome body cells in different nutrition daily, weekly, and with the seasons of the year.

Your body's health WILL thank you! (Your local farmers will thank you too.) 

Support for Tooth Infection / Abscess

Preface: I am not offering dental/medical advice here, merely sharing observations from my own mouth's research. As with any lifestyle changes or health decisions you make, choices and options you add into your life are your choices and your responsibility both in their use, actions, and consequences. Seeking the support of a biological dentist (compare to a naturopathic doctor for whole body medicine) can assist in the effort to save a tooth.  Medical Disclaimer

Back Story: I have always had healthy, strong teeth and have had few cavities as a child or adult. After 2 pregnancies and nursing both those babes, I have noticed changes in the health and strength of my teeth. This makes sense, on some level, as the nutrients to grow a new human (and fill that new human's stores) are taken from the body of the mother. In the perfect world, where all people eat 100% whole foods from birth on and every baby’s mother back the entire generational line ate 100% whole foods, mother's bodies would be better equipped for this childbearing giving of nutrients. But that is another story and another blog post... maybe.

Two years ago, in the fall of 2015, I cracked a tooth (lower right side of my mouth). Honestly, I don't remember how I cracked it. I was advised to have the tooth capped with a composite crown made right in my dentist's office. I had this procedure completed. After having the crown, I was not able to chew on that side. This discomfort in my tooth and jaw remained for weeks. I was told the crown needed to be filed down. When that did not solve the problem, I was told my upper tooth, above the capped tooth, needed to be filed. "Pain upon chewing is often because the crown sits to high above the height of the original cracked tooth."  I said no to filing my upper, real tooth. This did not make sense to me... filing off the enamel and minerals of a perfectly healthy tooth to accommodate a fake tooth. (This seemed like an invitation to weaken the real tooth and invite in decay.) I asked to have the fake tooth filed more and if it was getting too thin to file then replace it with a shorter version that fits better. 

A year and 1/2 later I was still not able to chew on the right side of my mouth. Then, in comes the serious pain: shooting pain in my lower right jaw. Ouch!  Upon x-ray, I am then told the previously cracked and now capped tooth is suffering from root infection, decay, and needs to be "root canalled" to preserve (not save) this dead tooth. 

In hindsight, visiting a biological dentist when the tooth first cracked, would have been a good choice. Maybe a thorough exam would have detected a problem starting under the tooth, (cracked tooth let in microbes), that could have been cared for immediately with ozone therapy or natural antimicrobials. Who knows, hindsight is another sight altogether.

So in comes my thought process: broken bones heal, wounds heal, infections heal... why can't my tooth and its root heal?? I have also read, many times over the years, information about root canals that is less than appealing. Wishing we had a biological dentist in our area... I did some research and this is the                                                                       

"Save My Tooth" Plan I came up with:

• Get rid of the infection

• Rebuild tissue & root health with herbs, homeopathy, and essential oils

• Rebuild nerve health with herbs, homeopathy, and essential oils

How did I plan to do this? It was a work in progress but I used my knowledge and training as a RN, Herbalist, and Natural Health Education Specialist to create my own plan.

Immediately I did Homeopathy remedies:

• Arnica Montana 30C, 2 doses for bringing down inflammation

• Hypericum 30C, every 2 hrs X 1 day then 2X daily X 1 week for nerve regeneration

I also did essential oil applications directly to the gum line of this affected tooth.

FYI: I am not an advocate of ingesting essential oils (putting them in my mouth means they will get ingested but I am also not big on losing teeth) as they are very strong and hard on digestive tract tissues and gut microbes.

• Rosemary, Tea Tree, & Thieves essential oil X 1 application, these are anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory essential oils. I mixed 2-3 drops of each into about 1 tbsp. organic olive oil and applied directly to gum line, both sides, of the affected tooth area. I actually rubbed it onto the gum line on that whole side of my lower mouth.

Long Term treatments:

• Herbs Etc. Phytocillin for anti-microbial support, 2 capsules 3X daily for 3-4 weeks

• Dr. Christopher’s X-Ceptic formula to the gum line 2-3 times daily

• Fresh ginger & turmeric root syrup for anti-inflammatory effects, 1-2 tbsp, 2-3 times daily

• Sarsaparilla route extract, 30 drops 3X daily for liver support (other liver root herbs would work here: burdock, dandelion…)

• Herb Doc Oral Therapy Tonic for teeth, gums, tongue, & breath applied to gum line 2-3 times daily at opposing times of the X-Ceptic formula above.

Big jar goes in fridge, small jar bedside stand

Long Term Paste Treatment

I used Dr. Christopher’s Herbal Tooth Powder (*that I added comfrey leaf powder to) mixed in a paste with:

• water

• Complete Tissue & Bone Massage oil (comfrey root to rebuild tissue),

• Thieves essential oil blend (antimicrobial & anti-inflammatory),

• Rosemary essential oil, antimicrobial,

• Herb Doc fresh breath drops, anti-microbial

• Dr. Christopher's Ear & Nerve tincture (herbs to rebuild peripheral nerves)

I applied this every 2-3 hours along my gum line for at least 3-4 weeks. Herbal Tooth Powder and the Complete Tissue Oil contain herbs (comfrey leaf & root) to rebuild tissue.

After 3-4 weeks, I applied at bedtime and again in the AM. I did this for several months.

I then swapped out to using only at bedtime and stopped putting the essential oils in it. Now, 6-7 months later, I use it 2-3 nights a week.

After 2 years... I can finally chew on the right side of my mouth. Yes, even hunks of raw, hard carrots. 

My dentist tells me that this is only temporary... that I will, no matter what, need to have a root canal or tooth pulled. My tooth is feeling pretty good these days... But, I will keep using my tooth powder paste... and take each new day and challenge as it comes to me.

If a tooth problem is caught early enough, a biological dentist can save it with ozone and other natural treatments. Biological dentists, in my mind, are the naturopathic docs of the teeth / mouth.

*Dr. Christopher’s Herbal Tooth Powder originally did contain comfrey powder. The comfrey was removed when the FDA told us it was unsafe. Myself, I think this is BS. Comfrey is a safe and effective bone and tissue healing herb that has been used for hundreds, thousands perhaps, years. I used comfrey leaf and root powder in medicinal infusions for both of my pregnancies and breastfeeding adventures to provide dense bone and tissue building minerals. Plants I am not afraid of... 

Paste Treatment Recipe:

Honestly, this is just approximates of everything. This is how I cook and this is how I make my herbal remedies: pinch of this & pinch of that. Handful of this and handful of that... depending on what I am making, for how many, and how long it will be shelf or refrigerator stable.

• Rounded tablespoon of Dr. Christopher’s Herbal Tooth Powder

• water, just enough after I added everything else to make a thick paste that would spread onto my gum lines and not melt away quickly, generally it is still there, on my gums, in the AM. I just rinse and spit upon arising. Trust me, you will want to. The taste in your morning mouth needs resetting!

• Say a tsp. or so of Complete Tissue & Bone Massage oil (comfrey root to rebuild tissue),

• 2-3 drops of Thieves essential oil blend (antimicrobial & anti-inflammatory),

• 2-3 drops of Rosemary essential oil, antimicrobial,

• 10-12 drops of Herb Doc fresh breath drops, anti-microbial

• 30 drops of Dr. Christopher's Ear & Nerve tincture (herbs to rebuild peripheral nerves)

I keep this in a small glass jar in the refrigerator. I keep enough for a few nights in another small jar on my bed side stand. When my bedside jar is empty, I wash it with hot soapy water, and put more in.

They may not be perfect... but they are mine, well, mostly mine!

Update 1/25/2019

The only time I notice a flair is when I eat sugar, which is very rare. Holidays caught me on a couple of occasions and I would notice, within a few hours, pain under that problem tooth area. Huge wake up of the damage sugar does in the body and how sugar flairs infection by feeding the microbes and weakening the immune system. Recently, I also used CBD ointment, mixed in with the comfrey tooth powder herb mash, for a while. Anti-inflammatory & anti-microbial.

The below image is from a FB self healing group. The teeth are a mirror image of yours. Top is top teeth, bottom is bottom teeth. Right side of picture = left side of teeth / mouth. Left side of picture = right side of teeth / mouth. Although, the sides of mouth & the impact on whole body health are same on both sides.

2nd image is another version from a natural healing doctor.

November 2020 update below

UPDATE November 2020, 4 Years Later

So I caved and had the tooth pulled just before Thanksgiving 2020, 4 years later.

Then it took 14 months to have all of the rebuild work done: titanium implant that had to sit around for months healing before the actual fake tooth was then created and placed upon this titanium post.

Why did I finally quit. Hmmmm, honestly I think I was just tired of hearing the doom & gloom from my dentist. The initial problem never got worse, in fact it was far less of an ‘infection’ pocket. It just never totally went away. My dentist kept telling me if I did not get rid of the tooth OR do a root canal, I was risking infection & injury to the teeth beside it, jaw infection, blah-blah-blah. And then, recently, a girlfriend’s mother had a severe infection spread in her jaw because of an abscessed tooth that literally almost killed her. Emergency jaw surgery to scrape out the infected bone tissue & hospitalized for a few days of IV antibiotics then outpatient antibiotics twice daily for over a week.

I made the best decision at that point to just be done with it.